WE ALL remember the chaos that ensued when 2018’s ‘Beast From The East’ hit Ireland.
Every business in the country shut down, the snow came up to people’s thighs and people were trapped in their own homes for days.
But none of that bothered anyone too much—in fact, if you ask an Irish person about their experience during the Beast From The East they’re likely to tell you something along the lines of “It was some craic”.
No, what really troubled the Irish people during the three-day snowstorm was the perceived lack of bread.
People were stocking up with enough food to last for a month, ‘just in case’, and we all remember the scenes of shoppers absolutely losing the run of themselves to get bread the second it was put on the shelves.
Or maybe not even waiting until it was on the shelves.
The moral of the story is, basically, don’t mess with Irish people’s bread.
A lesson that has obviously been ignored by the British government led by Boris Johnson, who are so intent on getting a No-Deal Brexit through parliament that they’re already dismissing the threat of a hard border in Ireland-- and now leaked ‘Yellowhammer documents’ detailing the effects of No-Deal have listed a bread crisis in Ireland as part of the ramifications.
According to The Guardian, because the Republic of Ireland imports over 60% of its flour from the UK, tariffs induced by a No Deal would bring the price of a tonne of flour to €172, meaning a loaf of bread is likely to rise by 15c to make up for the price inflation.
And if Irish bakers imported flour from elsewhere in the EU in order to avoid the tariffs, the cost of transport would result in even higher prices for the bakers and Irish consumers.
Of course, the flour tariff won’t only affect bread—cakes, biscuits and any other dish made from flour will fall victim to the price inflation.
Start stocking up lads.
